Children of the Gods
by CookieEmpire
Summary: Crossover with Shade's Children Major AU. SG1 travel to a new planet and find a group of teenagers and children struggling to survive. O'NeillxOFC. Please RR. Much more interesting than it sounds I promise! :
1. Another Day on the Job

**A/N:** This fanfic is a crossover between the tv show Stargate: SG-1 and the book Shade's Children by Garth Nix. If you haven't read Shade's Children, it's fine, you'll just be finding everything out about the world Nix created as SG-1 does.

For those of you who have read Shade's Children, this is a definite AU. I have created my own main characters to replace Ella, Drum, Gold-Eye, and Ninde. Shade, of course, is still in the story, and all the other changes I've made should become apparent pretty quickly. Cheers!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything that you recognize from either Stargate: SG-1 or Shade's Children. All original characters and content are mine.

**Chapter One – Another Day on the Job**

"7th chevron locked," the techie stated, eyes trained on the screen before him. No one in the control room even flinched as the stargate opened and the preliminary splash shot from the blue puddle. They were all far too used to this to be surprised. This was just another day on the job… a very interesting, and at times unpredictable and life threatening, job. The techie's eyes darted across the computer screen as he tapped several keys on the keyboard in front of him. "Activating the mount ," he informed General Hammond, who responded with a nod.

"Three seconds," the techie murmured.

A second computer screen showed the mount's read-out. Everyone in the control room gathered around it and waited for the electronic disturbance to clear. A picture came in, faint and colorless; the screen jumped twice, then it cleared. The screen showed a dimly lit street lined with dilapidated buildings that looked similar to an assortment of modern American skyscrapers and apartment buildings. It could have been downtown Chicago if it weren't for the eerie silence and emptiness that pervaded the entire street. Nine sets of eyes scanned the visible landscape for any sign of a threat, but could find none. The oxygen levels were safe, the temperature was relative to their own… everything seemed to be conducive to human life. Major Samantha Carter informed General Hammond of this. "Sir," she said, "P3X-99E appears to be habitable."

"Well then," he said, turning to Colonel O'Neill, "it looks like you have a go. Assemble SG-1 and meet in the gate room in 15 minutes."

"Yes sir," O'Neill nodded and pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning against. He turned to Carter. "Shall we?"

She grinned a bit and responded, "Yes sir." The two of them quickly walked out of the control room.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later saw the four members of SG-1 gathering before the stargate, fastening buckles and doing last minute weapon checks. "SG-1 are you ready?" came General Hammond's voice over the loudspeaker in the gate room. 

O'Neill gave him a thumbs up. "Ready when you are sir."

"Good to hear it Colonel." There was a pause as he stepped away from the microphone and directed his attention to the ever-present techie. "Commence dialing." The techie nodded with a muttered "yes sir" and pushed his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose before turning to his keyboard.

Teal'c, Major Carter, Colonel O'Neill, and Dr. Jackson watched impassively as the gate turned, locking the seven symbols into place, and activating the gateway to the galaxy. Slipping on his sunglasses, O'Neill stepped forward and said, "Let's go."

The four team members of SG-1 walked up the ramp at a steady pace and stepped through the gate with a confidence born of familiarity. After all, it was just another day on the job…

**A/N:** So what do you think so far? I'm pretty sure it hasn't been done before… at least not that I know of. It's a plot bunny that I've been playing with for quite a while, and finally decided to try expanding it into a fanfic.


	2. Hidden in the Mists

**A/N:** Hello all! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! The world and characters of Shade's Children come more into play in this chapter, but it should be exceedingly easy for you to follow along. : ) Just think of it as SG-1 visiting a planet through the stargate that you've never seen before, just like on the show… : ) Enjoy!

Oh, and by the way, sorry it took so incredibly long to update, I've had this one written for a while, my computer is just acting screwy and won't let me access I'm having to use someone else's right now. 

**Disclaimer: **Tira is mine, along with anything else that you don't recognize from Stargate SG-1 or Shade's Children. The rest is not of my creation, nor do I claim it to be.

**Chapter Two – Hidden in the Mists**

Mist clung thickly to the ground, obscuring the seven figures that crept through the city. They stayed close to the sides of the tall buildings as though hiding in the non-existent shadows. Slowing to a stop, they all dropped to a crouch where the main road intersected the alley they were traveling down. The fog made it nearly impossible to see anything more than a few feet in front of them, but they had two advantages.

The first was their familiarity with the city streets they were ghosting through. Life could be cut short very easily if you didn't know every nook and cranny; every single drainpipe and manhole. Running and hiding were two things that you learned very quickly if you wanted to survive.

The second was that the sound of the glowing circle locking its symbols into place echoed audibly through almost the entire city. They had been keeping an eye on the circle since it had activated only a quarter of an hour ago. They crouched next to the building less than a hundred feet away from the circle, waiting for the blue light that would fill the circle. Some one, or something, was about to come through and into the ruins of their city.

Tira squinted hard, trying to see through the mist to the gray sky beyond. She knew that if they had noticed the opening of the circle the first time, that there was a good chance that the Overlords had noticed it as well and would be sending their minions to keep a lookout for anything suspicious, and that, considering the fog, the majority of those minions would be winged and airborne. It might have been safer for them to return to "the Home" when they heard the circle opening, but whatever came through could have as much effect on them as the Overlords. So here they were, hiding in the oppressive mist, waiting for the blue puddle to appear.

There was the sound of a loud splash, and then suddenly, through the mist, she could see the blue glow that meant the circle was open. Glancing back over her shoulder, she motioned for her six companions to stay low and follow her. She quickly cast her gaze around the deserted street and the allies of its surrounding buildings before standing from her crouch and cautiously moving out into the open. She kept her knees bent slightly so as to stay closer to the ground and, consequently, deeper in the mist. They couldn't afford to be caught, they needed to get back to the base and tell Shade what was happening. But first they needed to know who was coming through the circle of light, and if they were here to cause problems. They already had their hands full with the Overlords.

When she was close enough that she could clearly see the circle, she dropped to the ground in a full crouch and signaled everyone else to stop as well. The only down-side of being able to see the circle clearly was that whatever came through the circle might be able to see them clearly as well. She only hoped that the mist might hide them from the unsuspecting eye long enough for them to decide if the newcomers were a threat or not. She caught herself holding her breath as though it would make her less visible, and forced herself to breath normally. That's when the visitors came…..

There were four of them, three men and a woman. Tira was shocked. They were adults…. How was it possible? The only adults she had ever seen were the Overlords and Shade, though she wasn't really sure if you could consider any of them human. The one who seemed to be in charge was talking, though she couldn't make out what he was saying.

As her gaze locked on the tall blonde woman, her heart caught in her throat and a wave of longing washed over her. She had never had a mother, and some human instinct made her want to run to this woman and curl up in her arms. She looked…. nice. There was no other word for it. They all did… except perhaps for the black man with the golden symbol on his head. Still, there was something inviting about them. She wondered if her instincts would prove true. If they could be trusted… They had weapons, though she suspected they were more for self-defense than conquest. As she crouched in the mist contemplating these strangers, she heard something that made her heart clench. The screech of a Winger.

**A/N: ** So, that's that…. Hope you enjoyed the second chapter. I hope to have the third one up pretty soon.

**Shelly- **Kisses and Kudos to you as my first reviewer! And when are your loyal fans getting more Snape smut? : ) Lots of love!

**Also, thank you to my anonymous reviewer. Input/reviews are very important to me, especially positive ones. : ) **


	3. Trackers, Wingers and Myrmidons Oh My!

**A/N:** I cut this chapter off a bit soon, so it's a bit of a cliffie. You can thank writer's block for that…

** Chapter Three – Trackers, Wingers and Myrmidons… Oh my!**

O'Neill glanced back and watched the gate close behind the rest of his team. "Nice trip?" He inquired of Teal'c.

"The transportation was adequate O'Neill," he replied, "as it always is."

O'Neill stared at him for a moment before clapping him on the back and stepping away. "Good to hear it Teal'c."

"Well…." He said. "This is a cheery little spot in the universe." He watched the mist waft slowly across the ground, driven by a slight breeze. The same breeze played with small, miscellaneous bits of garbage; crumpled bits of paper, grimy cardboard; rolling them through the street. None of the buildings he could see had all of their windows, and he assumed they were abandoned as no one had bothered to board them up. It was as if the only thing left in this city was the fog. He blew out an exasperated sigh, it didn't look like they were going to find anything here, but they had to look anyway. He opened his mouth to give the order to move out when a nightmarish screech ripped open the silence.

Colonel O'Neill's head snapped skyward, followed immediately by his gun. "What in the hell was that?" He shouted to his team, as though one of them might hold the answer. He glanced over his shoulder to see the three of them in an almost identical stance as his own; guns trained on the sky, eyes flicking from one swirl of mist to the next, tense expressions on their faces. The entire team jumped as a series of whistles erupted, followed by the loud, echoing crash of heavily booted feet… feet that obviously belonged to extremely large creatures. Shadows of these enormous creatures began to emerge and take shape in the mists. They slowly lumbered forward until they were close enough that Colonel O'Neill could see their faces, or what he assumed where their faces.

"Alright," he said, "I'm not liking the looks of this. Everybody back to the stargate. Let's not make any more contact with these things than is absolutely necessary."

The rest of the team nodded without taking their eyes, or their guns (or in Teal'c's case, a staff weapon), off of the hulking monsters in front of them. As one they turned, only to find that a line of sickly gray, bony creatures barred the way, creatures that were currently emitting shrill whistles with great excitement. The lumbering giants behind them gave off an answering boom.

Suddenly a very human voice cut through the mayhem. "Hey you! Close your eyes and duck!"

With only a moment of hesitation, SG-1 quickly chose what appeared to be the safer of two options; they followed the shouted instructions and dropped the ground, covering their eyes with their hands.

There was a bright flash that was visible even through their closed eyelids, leaving them momentarily dazed. "C'mon," the same voice said, closer this time. "That'll have them confused and blinded, but it won't last for long." A hand, feminine, but strong, gripped O'Neill's shoulder, pulling him to his feet. He opened his eyes to find a girl, no older than sixteen or seventeen looking at him urgently. "Hurry," she said. "We don't have much time."

O'Neill didn't argue. Whatever those things were, they didn't look friendly, and his number one concern at the moment was getting his team to safety. Without hesitating he yelled, "Let's move it out!" He nodded at the girl still standing next to him, signaling her to lead the way. She returned his nod and after a short series of hand gestures six more children, all appearing to be between the ages of twelve and fifteen, stepped out of the vision-obscuring fog. Their eyes scanned SG-1 quickly before they jogged over to join the girl who appeared to be their leader.

"Nori, Matt, Branen," she said, "you three take the right. Aiden, Trow, Inen, you're on the left. Keep your eyes open. Let's go." The six youths nodded and fell into their designated positions as the still-nameless-girl-in-charge led them away at a brisk jog.

They had only gone about 200 feet when a shrill whistle echoed through the fog. Everyone slowed to a stop and began glancing around. The noise could have come from anywhere. "Tira," the boy named Nori whispered, looking to the girl in charge for direction. Tira cursed to herself. It was his first run topside, she should have sent one of the others back with him to the Home before coming to investigate the circle. Too late now…

"Trackers," she muttered to the man with glasses who looked positively disturbed. "They whistle when they get close."

The whistle came again, louder, more insistent and excited this time. Glancing around her, Tira quickly made up her mind. "Alright, change of plans." She said. "Trackers and Myrmidons aren't exactly world-class climbers, so we head for the rooftops and hope no Ferrets follow us up."

"What about Wingers?" Branen asked.

She turned and gave him a wry smile. "Pray that the fog is thick enough."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," cut in O'Neill. "What the hell is a Winger, and why are we worried about ferrets?"

"I don't have time to explain at the moment, just trust me… follow us and we'll get you out of here, then I promise I'll explain everything to you."

Colonel O'Neill stared at her for a few moments, his gaze hard, before nodding. "Alright. You get us out of here, and I'll save my questions for later. Now can we get a move on?"

Tira gave him a curt nod. "Stay close, and stay low," she said. With a signal to her companions, she stood and moved quickly to an alley about twenty feet to the left of their current position. When she made it to the wall, she reached up and pulled on what appeared to be a fire escape, or something very similar to one. The ladder extended down and was equipped with platforms at every level on the building, as all conventional fire escapes on Earth, though it was circular, and closed in on all sides as opposed to the flat, one-sided fire escape ladders of Earth.

The circular ladder slid with a creak of groaning, rusted metal to the ground. Tira motioned to the group still crouched on the slick black road, they seemed to be trying to hide from the iron gray sky that stretched out above them. At least her team seemed to, and with good reason, she knew. These four strangers didn't seem to know anything about the creatures that hunted them. The Myrmidons, the Wingers, the Ferrets, the Trackers… all were much too familiar to her and her team. It was a strange thought that someone could live everyday of their lives without running from them and fighting with them.

She watched impatiently as the group of ten made their way over to her, all gathering around the ladder in a semi-circle. "Alright," she said. "I'm going up first to check things out. Nobody follows me until I say it's clear. Understand?" she asked, giving Matt a hard look. In reply, he grinned sheepishly and nodded. It appeared they had had a problem with this order before.

Without another word, Tira turned and began to climb the ladder with a deftness and ease that spoke of long practice. When she reached the end of her silent ascent, she slowly stretched upward, until her eyes were even with the top of the roof. She completed a quick scan before easing herself up to crouch on top of the dilapidated building, her movements slow and fluid to avoid attracting the attention of any Wingers she might have missed.

Balancing on the balls of her feet, Tira trained her eyes on the far side of the roof. The mist was thinner here, farther from the ground, and it swirled in skeletal wisps across the cold cement. Visibility was clearer up here….damn. Cocking her head, she turned her eyes and ears to the sodden expanse of the sky above her. There were no signs of the winged-creatures, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. With a sigh and a final, quick scan of her surroundings she leaned over the side of the building and motioned her team and their new companions to climb up, and fast. Here's to hoping they would make it back to the Home safely…

**A/N: **To all my reviewers out there… (ha ha… I make it sound like I have a lot…. Though I am very grateful for the ones that I do have… hint hint…. ) 

**Cari: **Your day is Thursday. Worship the greatness that is Thursday. Your Stargate fix happens on Thursday… nudge nudge…wink winkVolim te. Fe'nos tol.

And sadly, for this chapter, she was the only one…..


	4. An Uneasy Truce

**A/N: **Sorry it took me so long to get this out. I've actually written several versions of this chapter (mostly due to the fact that my computer is crappy and I kept losing and having to re-write this chapter). Boo on that. But finally, here it is…

**Chapter Four – An Uneasy Truce**

Tira heard it before the rest of them did. There were no ear-splitting shrieks to herald their arrival; only the soft, repetitive sound of wings flapping. O'Neill and the others gave her questioning looks as she froze, but she ignored them, focusing her full concentration on the sky. The muffled sound of wing-strokes could be coming from anywhere, and she silently cursed the dense fog that was currently blanketing the rooftops, effectively cutting her field of vision to a meter or so in front of her. Even the familiar shapes of her team were blurred where they crouched mere feet away.

Gazing intently at her surroundings, she noticed that the fog seemed thicker in a spot just off to her left, as though it were being driven closer to the rooftop and condensed there. She furrowed her brow in confusion as the air in that particular space began to clear, the fog dissipating into the surrounding mist. The whirring of the wings grew louder, and she realized now that it was the wind generated by said wings that was pushing the haze down and away.

Her eyes darted up, looking for the creature she knew had to be there, and from the sudden and complete silence behind her, she knew the others spotted it at the same time she did.

A large Winger hovered above them, wings beating laboriously in the thick, moist air. She began to reach for the sword hanging over her back when she registered that the creature was not attacking. It took her a few seconds to realize that its eyes, unaccustomed to the heavy smog, had yet to locate them.

"What the hell is that thing?" Demanded O'Neill.

"Quiet!" She hissed. But too late…

With a loud screech the hovering Winger dove toward the small assembly, taloned hands outstretched.

"Down!" Tira screamed, though out of instinct, most of them were already on their stomachs, hands protecting their faces and heads.

Tira watched, momentarily frozen, as the Winger sped toward Nori; the eleven year old, who was still small for his age, had been slower to react than the others, and the winged creature was now diving straight for his unprotected back. Shaking off her daze, Tira lunged out of her crouch with an unintelligible cry that might have been Nori's name, and threw herself in the Winger's path. The creature collided with Tira, its velocity carrying them several feet, one of its clawed hands slashing at her stomach, consequently digging into its own. Tira's blood and the thick blue ichor that ran through the creature's veins ran together and washed Tira's abdomen in warm liquid. Tira hit the ground first, her back dragging against the gravely material of the rooftop. Beneath her shirt, the skin of her lower back was scraped harshly and began to bruise. Not waiting for them to skid to a stop, Tira used her momentum to pull her legs up, and braced her heels against the Winger's torso. She gripped its upper arms in her hands and pushed at the same time with her hands and feet, throwing the Winger off of her, and over her head. The creature bounced once on the roof, and then took to the sky again, wheeling around to rush Tira once more. Despite her injuries, Tira jumped agilely to her feet, ready for the Winger this time.

Drawing her sword, Tira stood her ground and waited the split second it took the creature to reach her. At the last possible moment, she leapt aside, the Winger shooting past her with a shriek of rage as she swung her sword down with all her strength, giving a shout of effort. Her blade caught the creature just below its jawbone, cleaving through tendons and bone to emerge on the other side of the Winger's neck and spark against the concrete of the rooftop.

The Winger's severed head hit the roof a moment before its body did, bouncing a few times and coming to rest near the man with glasses, who looked up from his ducked stance and cried out in surprise. He scrambled backward; afraid it might roll into him. All four of the strangers watched the blue ichor gushing from its veins with something between surprise and disgust on their faces.

"C'mon," Tira called, "the rest of them won't be far behind."

Even as the words left her mouth, the fog surrounding them began to swirl madly, pushed about by eight sets of wings.

Not needing any more persuasion, everyone followed as she ran to the edge of the roof and disappeared over the side, half-climbing half-jumping down the fire escape located there. When she had climbed down several levels, she turned and leaped through a window on the adjacent building that had been missing its glass for who-knows-how-long. She emerged in an abandoned room with no furniture left to hint at its prior purpose. A thick layer of dust had settled on the floor, but her entrance had upset its peaceful rest, and some of it had risen to float weightlessly in the air. More of the gray powder rose as her team, followed shortly by the four strangers, joined her. The last one to come through the window, O'Neill, barely evaded the clawed hand that shot in after him. Unable to reach its prey, the hideous creature screamed in anger and hovered by the window for a moment watching them.

SG-1 watched right back. They'd never seen anything like this before, even Teal'c who'd spent most of his life on a planet other than Earth.

The body of the creature was, appallingly, that of a human, though it appeared stretched, somehow longer and thinner than any human could ever be. Its arms were stretched even more out of proportion, ending in hands tipped with talons. There were no legs; only stumps that ended far higher than where the knees would have been. The face was an atrocity that couldn't have come from nature. The mouth stretched all the way from one ear to the other, and was equipped with jagged, saw-teeth that were faintly reminiscent of a shark's; the lower jaw was elongated, thrust out beyond the reach of the top. There was no nose, only an empty socket where one should have been, and the eyes, though twice the size of a human's, still held some human quality that made them terrible to look at. All of these sickening disfigurations, however, were far less alarming and out of place than the wings growing out of the creature's back. Leathery, and shaped like those of a bat, they easily spanned twenty feet across.

The Winger gave one last inhuman cry of rage and then pumped its wings and disappeared from view. O'Neill lowered his P90 and turned to address Tira, who was currently cleaning blue "blood" from her sword. "Alright," he said. "I want to know what's going on here. What the hell was that thing, and why didn't you tell us earlier that we might run into it?"

"That thing," Tira snapped as she sheathed her sword, "was a Winger. And I _did _mention it earlier. You just didn't seem very alarmed at the time."

She closed her eyes and exhaled roughly, trying to reign in her emotions. She concentrated on not letting the stress of the situation carry over into her attitude. The last thing she needed right now was to fight with these people. If they couldn't pull together, they'd never make it out of this alive. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed; she didn't have time for this…

"Look," she said, not removing her hand or opening her eyes. "I really don't have the time right now to argue over who said what and when." She dropped her hands to her side and opened her eyes to meet his gaze. "All I'm worried about at the moment is getting my people… and yours… to safety. I can't do that if we can't work together. You don't have to like me. You do have to listen to me… Can you do that? At least until we get to the Home and you can talk to Shade. And then you can ask me as many questions as you want. Okay?"

O'Neill stared at her, his jaw set in stubborn indecision. He didn't like the idea of a girl half his age ordering him around like a subordinate. His eyes wandered back to the window where the Winger had been. He also didn't like the idea of trying to lead his team to the gate with those things and God-knows what else out on the streets. He'd already caught a glimpse of at least two other species of creatures; the ones who'd tried to ambush them at the gate. He weighed the two in his mind and decided that taking this teenager's orders for a little while would ultimately be safer for his team, despite the affront to his pride.

"Alright," he said softly. "So what's the plan?"

She stared at him for a moment, her gaze hard, trying to judge how sincere he actually was. He was obviously accustomed to giving orders, not following them, but his concern for his team appeared to hold the upper ground at the moment. She had expected him to protest a bit more…. She nodded once, her respect for him growing.

"We're at Bachalla and Hu'Del Street right now, which means there should be a ground entrance right around the corner. We make a run for it, climb down, and once we're in the sub-trans, we try for Home. If we're lucky, the tunnels won't be infested with Ferrets."

"And if we are not lucky?" Asked the tall black man with the gold symbol on his forehead.

"We find an alternate route," she replied, more calmly than she felt.

He raised his eyebrows and looked to O'Neill, who remained silent.

Tira looked around at the assembled group, wondering who these people were exactly, and if their lives were worth those of her team members if something went wrong. She eyed their weapons curiously; hopefully they wouldn't be entirely useless if it came to a fight. She turned toward the door with a sigh and motioned them to follow her as she hunted for the stairs.

O'Neill dropped carefully from the raised cement platform to rest on his heels. Their speedy trek out of the building and down the street to the "ground entrance" had been nerve-wracking and he simply sat for a moment, allowing his heartbeat to slow as he waited for the others to join him and the girl, Tira.

It was dark where they crouched, and he began to switch on the flashlight mounted on is P90 when a faint glow began to grow into a strong, if slightly eerie, light. He turned to look for the source and found Tira holding what appeared to be a radiant ball no larger than the palm of her hand.

She caught his slightly confused look and answered the unasked question. "Witchlight," she said. "The Myrmidons carry it when they go out at night."

Unfortunately, this information meant nothing to O'Neill, as he didn't know what a Myrmidon was. "Myrmidons?"

"Those tall, hulking creatures that came at you near the ring."

"Ah," O'Neill muttered, remembering. "Those guys."

But Tira was no longer listening to him, her attention now focused on her team as they dropped down to join them on what appeared to be some sort of train tracks. As he contemplated the similarity, Daniel Jackson drew closer to him and whispered, "Look familiar to you?"

O'Neill merely raised an eyebrow in return.

"This," Daniel said, motioning with his hands to indicate that he was talking about their surroundings. "Kind of looks like a subway station, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," O'Neill whispered back. "Just without the trains."

As Daniel squinted at him, as if to decide whether or not he were serious, he caught Tira's gaze as she motioned for them to follow.

The group, an odd assembly of children, adults, and an alien, moved warily down the tunnel, their ghostly light casting distorted shadows on the cement walls.

It only took them about fifteen minutes to reach their exit point, but Tira couldn't shake her feeling of extreme unease. She was relieved, of course, that the tunnel seemed to be Ferret-free, but the very fact that it _was_ so empty made her distinctly nervous. It was a dark, dry place. Why wasn't there at least one of the nocturnal creatures in the tunnel? She shook her head, as though to dislodge the troubled thoughts that floated there. She led her companions out of the ground entrance nearest Home, and oddly enough, she was even more disconcerted when they traveled the next two blocks without incident. If she'd been from Earth, the cliché 'quiet… too quiet…' might have come to mind. But as she wasn't from Earth, the best she could come up with was something to the effect of 'what the hell is going on?'.

Creeping down the last stretch of deserted streets that led to the end of their journey, Tira felt for the first time in her life as though there truly _was _nothing alive in this city, no creatures, no teams hurrying about on their missions… nothing. This peculiar feeling stayed with her until they were a block away from the Home. It was at this point that she spotted shadows moving across the ground; the enlongated shapes of what were obviously humans coming up the side street that they were about to cross. Tira didn't even bother to stop the rest of the group so that she could check it out herself. There were no humans that would be walking down the streets of this city except for one of the teams from Home. Her reasoning was simple and logical… there were no other humans left alive in the city but the ones in the Home, with the exception of a few children, newly escaped from the Dorms, who would never walk the streets in broad daylight. Escapees were somewhat rare, and they usually hid until either someone from the Home found them, or creatures did. So it was with a sense of confidence that Tira glanced down the street as they approached the intersection, to find that she was indeed correct. It was Lonin's team, apparently just coming in from patrol and headed Home. She heard a small metallic click, and glanced behind her to find that O'Neill had thumbed the safety off his gun and raised it to point in Lonin's direction. Tira had never seen one of their weapons used, but she figured they wouldn't carry them if they weren't effective. Stepping in front of his weapon, Tira spoke to the man. "It's okay. They're with us."

O'Neill gave her a calculating glance, but nodded and lowered his gun. Appreciating the fact that he was honoring their bargain and listening to her, she gave him a small smile and said, "We're almost there. It's only another seventy cubits or so."

The man with glasses seemed intrigued by her words and stepped forward. "You measure in cubits?" he asked. "That's… that's interesting…" At O'Neill's questioning look, he explained, "A cubit is a unit of measure that was used in ancient Egypt. It's equal to the distance from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow. It's roughly between seventeen and twenty-two inches."

"That's _fascinating_, Daniel." O'Neill returned dryly.

While they had been talking, Lonin's team had reached them, and all six of them were staring at the four members of SG-1 with a mix of astonishment and confusion. "I don't understand," Lonin said. "They're so… _old_."

"Hey!" O'Neill protested. "I'm not _that _old."

Tira quickly jumped into the conversation. "I'm sorry," she said. "He didn't mean to offend you. We're just not used to seeing people your age because of…. well… I'll just let Shade explain. C'mon, like I said, it's not much farther." She turned to Lonin and examined his bloodstained shirt. "Are you alright?"

Lonin looked down at his chest and grimaced. "Ferrets," he said, by way of explanation. "Near 33rd."

Tira nodded. "Let's get you cleaned up."

The group, who's numbers had now expanded to seventeen, continued quietly around the block to a large, domed building. Making sure that they hadn't been followed, Tira took a quick look around and then led them all inside.

**A/N: **Wow, sorry that ran so long… I just kept adding and adding to it… And to my wonderful reviewers:

**Cari:** Yes I was quite partial to that title myself. : ) And by the way, I know I've shown you season one of Stargate now, but have I lent you seasons two and three yet?

**Explorerwinds: **Thank you very much. I'm glad you find it interesting. And I hope that if you keep reading, that it still is. : )

**Jedi Padfoot: **Thanks for that wonderful review. Hopefully I'll be able to churn more chapters out fairly quickly. : )

Cheers to everyone else who's reading. I hope you're all enjoying yourselves.

-Ember


	5. Home is Where the Heart is ish

**A/N**: Next chapter! W00t!

**Chapter Five – Home Is Where the Heart Is…ish**

"What is this place?" O'Neill asked as the heavy doors clanged shut behind them.

"I guess you could call it our home," Tira answered without glancing in his direction. She helped Lonin to one of the low cement benches so she could check his wounds. She slowly began to unwind the torn strip of cloth from around his chest and shoulders, accepting clean bandages and ointment from another teenager who came to assist her.

"We haven't been here for very long," she said, glancing back over her shoulder to let the Colonel know she was addressing him. "Only just over a year. Home used to be an old pre-War sub at the bay, but it became apparent that it was too difficult to defend, and too difficult to escape when cornered." As she spoke, she smoothed a layer of the thick ointment onto the gashes, and then began to wrap the new cloth bandages around his torso. "There are hundreds of tunnels connected to this central location, and all of these tunnels have indirect access to the sewage system, which we use to evade the creatures of the Overlords." She finished winding the gauze, and tied it off in a field dressing that even the Colonel had to admire.

Standing from her crouched position, Tira wiped her hands on her pants and turned to face SG-1 once again.

"So, is there anyone here we can talk to who's…oh I don't know…. _older_?" Asked Colonel O'Neill.

Taking a step forward, Dr. Jackson quickly cut in, "- I think what Jack– Colonel O'Neill- is saying is that…. Uh… who's in charge here? Are there any adults we can talk to?"

Tira grinned bemusedly. "Scoggs!" She called, catching the attention of a 13-year-old boy passing by. "Would you please take the visitors to see Shade?"

The boy simply stared at the members of SG-1 in what appeared to be shock. "They're…. old." He whispered.

"Hey!" O'Neill exclaimed, somewhat offended.

"Scoggs!" Tira admonished, with a slight grin. She turned to address Colonel O'Neill. "Sorry, but we're not really used to… never mind. I should let Shade explain. In fact, if you give me a second, I'll take you myself. I need to give him a report anyway."

Walking over to a rather large basin she turned a knob on the wall and thrust her hands under the cool rush of water that poured out of the metal spout attached to the wall. With no pretense at modesty she stripped out of the tattered mess of her shirt, leaving her only in a black bra, only a few shades darker than a pattern of bruises that decorated the lower 2/3 of her back. Dipping her hands back into the water, she ran them over her arms and abdomen, cleaning off the blood and ichor that had dried into a clotted mess on her skin. She reached out her arm to catch the towel that someone tossed at her, and dried her now-clean skin. She threw the towel to another teenager, who exchanged it for a plain black t-shirt.

"Okay, let's go," she said pulling on the new shirt and indicating that they should follow her.

"Uh…. I'm no doctor…" stated O'Neill, "but shouldn't you disinfect those wounds?"

Tira shot him a bemused look and said simply, "I heal." At his incredulous, and slightly confused look, she simply smiled and said, "Now, if you'll please follow me, I'll take you to meet Shade."

"Yeah, about this…. Shade." said Daniel. "Who exactly is he?"

**A/N: ** I shall now take a moment to recognize my wonderful reviewers. You guys _rock_!

**Cari: **As always, thank you for all your help and constant support. By tolerating all my nagging questions, you make the process so much easier… : )

**JediPadfoot: **Have I ever mentioned that I absolutely _love _your name? The perfect mix of two of my favorite things. : ) Anyway, thank you for reading. As always, I hope you enjoyed it and will be coming back for more… whenever I _write _more that is. : ) And I'm glad you liked the sword sequence. I was actually worried that the imagery wouldn't properly convey what I had going in my head, and that readers would just be confused. : )

Until next time everyone!

-Ember


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